The 43-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared via video link in Armidale Local Court from prison where he was due to make a bail application following his arrest earlier this month.

Solicitor Wendy McAuliffe said she had provided the intended bail address to the Director of Public Prosecutions to enable police to carry out checks, but her client had raised concerns about the charges against him.

“I am instructed by [name withheld] that these charges are in relation to offences that he was tried and acquitted of  previously,” she told the court.

“That will probably need to be investigated.”

A solicitor for the DPP told the court they had spoken to an investigator from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad but would need further time to investigate the bail address and the accused’s claims.

Although there has been changes to the law, Magistrate Michael Holmes said double jeopardy “hadn’t been amended” on his watch, and ordered the DPP to look into the claims.

“There needs to be a statement by police, court records,” he said, ordering police to also compile a brief of evidence.

The man was arrested by officers from the State Crime Command’s Child Exploitation Internet Squad at 10.30am on April 14 during a raid on a Short St home in Glen Innes.

Police allege on that morning he was in possession of child abuse material, and detectives seized computers and electronic storage devices that they alleged depicted images of child abuse.

The man is also charged with unlawfully having carnal knowledge of a 16-year-old girl on January 15, 2003 at Inverell.

Police said the investigation was triggered after detectives were alerted to the online activities of a man in December, last year.

“I am aware that these investigations are extremely voluminous,” Police prosecutor Senior Constable Cheryl Hall said, adding it “will be extremely difficult” to provide a full brief of evidence by the time the case returns to court next month.

The man’s application for bail was also adjourned to May.